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How the crowd draws

19 drawings of its land border and 31 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s Mexico map, 18 October 2026 to 28 October 2026.

In numbers

Last updated on 28 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area58,000 km²22,000 sq mi61,000 km²24,000 sq mi6.5% bigger
Outline1,402 km871 mi1,378 km856 mi1.7% shorter
Centre90.36° W, 18.84° N90.4° W, 18.8° N90.47° W, 18.91° N90.5° W, 18.9° N14 km north-west9 mi north-west
Westernmost92.47° W, 18.65° N92.5° W, 18.6° N92.50° W, 18.63° N92.5° W, 18.6° N3 km beyond2 mi beyond
Easternmost89.12° W, 18.39° N89.1° W, 18.4° N89.17° W, 19.30° N89.2° W, 19.3° N5 km short3 mi short
Southernmost90.98° W, 17.82° N91.0° W, 17.8° N89.60° W, 17.76° N89.6° W, 17.8° N6 km beyond4 mi beyond
Northernmost90.40° W, 20.85° N90.4° W, 20.8° N90.41° W, 20.84° N90.4° W, 20.8° Nthe same

Near the land border, 47% of the crowd’s lines run inside Campeche. Near the coast, 26% run inland.

Borders and coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from INEGI (coasts, islands left out), are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Campeche’s coast: 447 km in the game, 425 km officially.

5 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Tabasco305 km in the game312 km the crowd’s2.3% longer
Yucatán255 km in the game235 km the crowd’s7.8% shorter
Quintana Roo222 km in the game223 km the crowd’s0.5% longer
Guatemala194 km in the game217 km the crowd’s11.9% longer
Belize15 km in the game7 km the crowd’s53.3% shorter
The coast447 km in the game425 km officially417 km the crowd’s6.7% shorter
Not enough drawings yet
The worst 20% and the best 20%By how close a drawing comes to the state17 of 20 drawings needed on each side
Not enough drawings yet
Another country and MexicoFrom where are you from; no answer left out4 of 10 drawings from another country needed
The fastest and the slowest thirdBy time spent drawingDownload (0.3 MB)
Quickest and slowest to startBy time before the first lineDownload (0.3 MB)
Where drawings start and endStarts teal, ends pink, piled up blackDownload (0.1 MB)
The drawings stacked as blocksWhere many drawings pass, the stack growsDownload (1.5 MB)

How it is measured

The crowd’s Campeche: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Campeche or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 50 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s Mexico map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut.

Measuring how far the crowd moves the centre was Matt Forrest’s idea (forrest.nyc).

Draw Campeche yourself and add your line to the next update.